Ten Top Tips for a New Board Director

 

1.   Have a strategy for adding value - know why you've been invited onto the Board

 

2.   Do your research - understand your Board and the key industry issues

 

3.   Be prepared - stay awake - you must be present in all the discussions but not necessarily active

 

4.   Review all board meetings & take notes /action lists of the key issues

 

5.   Get the tone right - use your emotional intelligence to understand the style and culture of the

      boardroom

 

6.   Have a view on every board item but don't necessarily voice it

 

7.   Understand unwritten rules - you can stretch this a little but you must play within them

 

8.   Recycle good ideas - a good idea is always a good idea so use it from board to board

 

9.   Start an acronym list - all organisations have their own language and they will happily explain it ONCE

 

10.  Curb enthusiasm - 'better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove

        all doubt' - your time to shine will come